Public Service Superannuation Act

Marginal note:Lump sum payments

• 25 (1) Where, in this Part, it is provided that the survivor and children of a contributor are entitled jointly to a return of contributions, the total amount of the return shall be paid to the survivor except that

  • (a) if at the time of the death of the contributor all of the children were eighteen years of age or over and at the time the payment is to be made the survivor is dead or cannot be found, the total amount shall be paid to the children in equal shares;

  • (b) if at the time of the death of the contributor any of the children were less than eighteen years of age, and the contributor died without leaving a survivor or at the time the payment is to be made the survivor is dead or cannot be found, the total amount shall be paid to the children in the shares that the Minister considers equitable and proper under the circumstances, or to any of them, as the Minister may direct;

  • (c) if any of the children who were less than eighteen years of age at the time of the death of the contributor are living apart from the survivor at the time the payment is to be made, the total amount shall be paid to the survivor and the children so living apart in the shares that the Minister considers equitable and proper under the circumstances, or to the survivor or any of the children so living apart, as the Minister may direct; and

  • (d) if the contributor died without leaving any children and at the time the payment is to be made the survivor is dead or cannot be found, or if the contributor died without leaving a survivor and at the time the payment is to be made all of the children are dead or cannot be found, the total amount shall be paid

    • (i) if the contributor named his or her estate or succession as beneficiary or named another beneficiary under Part II and the beneficiary survives the contributor, to the beneficiary, and

    • (ii) in any other case, to the estate or succession of the contributor or, if less than one thousand dollars, as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Apportionment when two survivors

  (2) If there are two survivors of a contributor, the share of the total amount to be paid to the survivor referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition “survivor” in subsection 3(1) and the share to be paid to the survivor referred to in paragraph (b) of that definition shall be paid as the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Share may be nil

  (2.1) Nothing in subsection (2) is to be read as limiting the Minister’s power to direct that the share of one or other of the survivors under that subsection is nil.

• Marginal note:Allowances paid to children

  (3) When a child of a contributor is entitled to an annual allowance or other amount under this Part, payment of it shall, if the child is less than eighteen years of age, be made to the person having custody and control of the child, or, if there is no person having custody and control of the child, to the person whom the Minister may direct.

• Marginal note:Person considered to be the survivor

  (4) For the purposes of this Part, when a person establishes that he or she was cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature with the contributor for at least one year immediately before the death of the contributor, the person is considered to be the survivor of the contributor.

• Marginal note:Person considered to be married

  (4.1) For the purposes of this Part, when a contributor dies and, at the time of death, the contributor was married to a person with whom the contributor had been cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature for a period immediately before the marriage, that person is considered to have become married to the contributor on the day established as being the day on which the cohabitation began.

• Marginal note:When survivor not to receive annual allowance — waiver

  (5) A survivor is not entitled to receive an annual allowance if the survivor makes an irrevocable waiver under subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Permitted waivers

  (6) A survivor may make an irrevocable waiver in writing only if it results in

  • (a) an increase in the allowance payable to a child under paragraph 12(4)(b); or

  • (b) a benefit being paid under section 27.

• Marginal note:Time for waiver

  (7) A waiver must be made no later than three months after the survivor is notified of his or her entitlement to an allowance under this Act and takes effect as of the date of the death of the contributor.

• Marginal note:When survivor not to receive benefits — criminal responsibility for death

  (8) A survivor is not entitled to receive any benefit under this Act with respect to the contributor when the contributor dies and the survivor is found criminally responsible for the death.

• Marginal note:When survivor not to receive annual allowance — missing survivor

  (9) A survivor is not entitled to receive an annual allowance when the contributor dies if it is established to the satisfaction of the Minister that the survivor cannot be found.

• Marginal note:Apportionment of allowance when two survivors

  (10) When an annual allowance is payable under paragraph 12(4)(a) or subsection 13(2) and there are two survivors of the contributor, the total amount of the annual allowance shall be apportioned so that

  • (a) the survivor referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition “survivor” in subsection 3(1) is entitled to receive the proportion of the annual allowance that the total of the number of years that he or she cohabited with the contributor while married to the contributor and the number of years that he or she cohabited with the contributor in a relationship of a conjugal nature bears to the total number of years that the contributor so cohabited with the survivors; and

  • (b) the survivor referred to in paragraph (b) of that definition is entitled to receive the proportion of the annual allowance that the number of years that he or she cohabited with the contributor in a relationship of a conjugal nature bears to the total number of years that the contributor cohabited with the survivors, either while married or while in a relationship of a conjugal nature.

• Marginal note:Years

  (11) In determining a number of years for the purposes of subsection (10), part of a year shall be counted as a full year if the part is six or more months and shall be ignored if it is less.

• Marginal note:Death, etc. of one of the survivors

  (12) When one of the survivors referred to in subsection (10) dies or is not entitled to receive a benefit under this Act when the contributor dies, the portion of the annual allowance that would have been payable to the survivor who died or is not entitled shall be paid to the remaining survivor in addition to his or her own portion.